There is some but relatively little overlap between the cultures of educational research and educational design, a state of affairs that is to the detriment of both fields. In this article I address some of the reasons this is the case, and then make a plausibility argument for a more substantial rapprochement between the two fields. I do so first by analogy, suggesting that research on the “professional vision” of designers would be of profit to practitioners in both fields. I then provide a preliminary example of what such work might reveal, and propose the systematic pursuit of such ideas.

Teachers rarely have opportunities to engage in assessment design even though classroom assessment is fundamental to effective teaching. This article describes a process of design, implementation, reflection and redesign that was used to create a model for professional development to improve teachers’ assessment practices. The improvement of the professional development model occurred over a period of eight years, in two different research projects involving middle grades mathematics teachers in the United States. This article also describes the design principles that teachers used to design classroom assessments and “learning lines” to support formative assessment of student understanding.

This paper describes the design process of a collection of educational Java applets for fostering spatial abilities in primary and secondary education.
It describes the process in which I tried to exploit the unique possibilities of software in realizing learning activities with a clear add-on value in reaching the learning objectives.

I will not only use the viewpoint of an educational designer who is inspired by the possibilities of software, but also that of a software designer and programmer who is inspired by educational needs and ideas to modify existing software features or create new ones.